Yoshinoya to grow rice in Fukushima

Yoshinoya Holdings Co. said Tuesday it will grow rice and vegetables in Fukushima Prefecture through a joint venture with local farmers.

The move is aimed at building a stable supply of agricultural products at lower prices for Yoshinoya’s chain of “gyudon” beef-on-rice restaurants and contributing to the reconstruction of the prefecture hard hit by the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, but dealt an even greater blow from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant meltdowns.

Capitalized at ¥10 million, the just-established joint venture, Yoshinoya Farm Fukushima Co., in the city of Shirakawa, will start growing rice, onions and napa cabbage from fiscal 2014.

Yoshinoya Holdings owns 49 percent of the new company’s voting rights. Yoshinoya plans to employ local residents to help Fukushima’s reconstruction.